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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23072494">The Witch of Time Saves Nine</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TMFilly/pseuds/TMFilly'>TMFilly</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 00:21:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,644</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23072494</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TMFilly/pseuds/TMFilly</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After receiving prodding from Kyoko, Homura learns that she can store people in her shield. But even more importantly, she can reset the timeline with them in tow. So the obvious next step is for her to bring a Madoka back in time. And why stop at just one?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Akemi Homura/Kaname Madoka</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>47</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"That's it Homerun. I'm at my limit."</p>
<p>Homura looks up from her notes with a raised eyebrow. "Would you care to rephrase that?" she asks.</p>
<p>After discarding yet another empty cup ramen container into the pile at the center of the coffee table between them, Kyoko continues ranting, "I've been watching you check and double check your math homework for the past hour, and while I'm not going to turn down free food-"</p>
<p>"There should be several more cases of cup ramen if you want them," Homura interrupts.</p>
<p>Kyoko narrows her eyes. "Are they all salt-flavored?" she asks.</p>
<p>Homura looks away, pointedly not answering. Her lack of variety of food has not fallen under Kyoko's radar.</p>
<p>"While I'm not going to turn down free food-" Kyoko continues.</p>
<p>"You may find a few shrimp-flavored ones if you search the pantry-" Homura begins.</p>
<p>"WHILE I'M NOT GOING TO TURN DOWN FREE FOOD!" Kyoko bellows.</p>
<p>Homura takes the hint to stop interrupting.</p>
<p>"I really don't get what I'm even doing here," Kyoko concludes.</p>
<p>"You're aiding me in the fight against Walpurgisnacht."</p>
<p>"By sitting here and looking cute while you run through your 'statistics'?"</p>
<p>"Don't flatter yourself, Kyoko Sakura."</p>
<p>Gritting her teeth, Kyoko gets up from her seat on the couch. On the couch across from her, Homura watches her, wondering if their meeting will come to an abrupt end.</p>
<p>"You know, I'm starting to wonder if you even know what you're talking about with this whole Walpurgisnacht business," Kyoko growls.</p>
<p>Seeing the writing on the wall, Homura begins filing away her notes, saying, "If that's the direction this strategy meeting is going to take, I suppose we can leave off here for tonight."</p>
<p>"Meeting? You consider <em>this</em> a meeting?"</p>
<p>"You don't?"</p>
<p>"Of course I don't! I know jack dick about what our plans are," Kyoko shouts. "Heck, I don't even know what <em>you</em> are!"</p>
<p>Homura stares at Kyoko with a blank expression. Her eyes sharpen for a moment, trying to decipher the meaning behind that statement. "Would you clarify?" she finally asks.</p>
<p>"I don't need your whole life story, but I'd at least like to know who I'm getting fed by."</p>
<p>"Homura Akemi. Second year at Mitakihara Middle School. And technically speaking, I'm fourteen years old."</p>
<p>"Wait, so your name isn't actually..." Kyoko doesn't finish her question, but the message is clearly received.</p>
<p>"Did you actually believe that my name was 'Homerun'?" Homura asks with a frown.</p>
<p>Kyoko's lack of response speaks volumes.</p>
<p>"Regardless, is that a satisfactory enough info dump?" Homura asks, clearly wanting to move on from this subject.</p>
<p>Kyoko posits for a moment before responding with a question, "What's your favorite food?"</p>
<p>Homura is briefly taken aback by how mundane the question is. She puts a hand to her chin. After a few moments of deep thought, she finally answers, "I've always been a fan of Strawberry Shortcake."</p>
<p>"Favorite drink?" Kyoko asks, not missing a beat.</p>
<p>"Strawberry milk," Homura answers a bit too quickly.</p>
<p>"Color?" Kyoko asks with a hint of suspicion.</p>
<p>"Pink."</p>
<p>Kyoko grins as she notices the pattern. Homura looks unimpressed."What?" she asks.</p>
<p>"Nothing," Kyoko states, and while not believing her, Homura chooses to drop it. After thinking for a moment, Kyoko finally comes up with another question. "What was your wish?" she asks.</p>
<p>Now Kyoko has crossed the line. "That's not important," Homura answers with a glare.</p>
<p>"Not important? I'd argue that your reason for being a magical girl is pretty flippin' important," Kyoko insists.</p>
<p>Running her hand through her hair, Homura chooses to continue avoiding Kyoko's new line of questioning. "The wish I made is irrelevant to our current goal of defeating Walpurgisnacht, just as yours is," she declares.</p>
<p>"Oh come on. At least if I know your wish then I can know what nifty power you got," Kyoko pleads.</p>
<p>"Not happening."</p>
<p>"I'll tell you mine."</p>
<p>"I know yours."</p>
<p>"You do?" Kyoko exclaims.</p>
<p>Homura curses under her breath. Thinking on her feet, she suggests, "If I show you my power, will you stop prying?"</p>
<p>"Deal," Kyoko replies with a grin.</p><hr/>
<p>Having stored away her notes and cleaned up Kyoko's pile of empty containers, Homura transforms into her magical girl outfit, appeasing the very impatient Kyoko.</p>
<p>"Geez, that sure took you long enough," Kyoko whines.</p>
<p>"It would have taken less time had you assisted me," Homura mutters.</p>
<p>Kyoko shrugs in response. It's not like this is <em>her</em> weird, clock-themed apartment.</p>
<p>"Now pay close attention," Homura begins. "I don't want to have to do it again and run the risk of Kyubey stumbling in and seeing my powers."</p>
<p>"You rang?" calls a voice from the shadows, followed immediately by a gunshot. Homura, suddenly brandishing a now-smoking pistol, glares at the newly corpse of Kyubey.</p>
<p>"Did you just-" Kyoko starts.</p>
<p>"Save your questions until after the demonstration," Homura demands before putting a hand on her shield.</p>
<p>Before Kyoko can even think to argue that the murder she just witnessed should probably not be brushed under the rug, Homura disappears.</p>
<p>Kyoko is stunned by how instantaneously Homura disappeared. Of course, Kyoko has seen this before, but it never fails to amaze her.</p>
<p>"Behind you," says a voice.</p>
<p>Kyoko, going straight into fight or flight mode, panics and wields the first thing that comes to mind: a chocolate-flavored pocky stick. Her seeming assailant almost seems amused by her choice.</p>
<p>"I seriously hope your go-to self-defense strategy isn't feeding people to death," Homura teases.</p>
<p>Kyoko puts the pocky stick in her mouth and avoids thinking any further about her folly."So you can teleport, right?" she asks before taking a bite.</p>
<p>Homura frowns. "No, idiot. Watch again."</p>
<p>Homura seemingly disappears again, this time appearing a few meters to the side.</p>
<p>"Do you see now?" she asks.</p>
<p>After taking a moment to finish the pocky stick, all Kyoko can do is scratch her head. "I don't get it," she says. "I thought you were teleporting, but I guess if that were the case, there'd at least be some sort of delay or blur or something. But nope, you just kinda appear right there in like no time at-"</p>
<p>Kyoko stops herself. Homura continues staring, awaiting Kyoko's conclusion.</p>
<p>"Hey Homura, dumb question-"</p>
<p>"That's not unprecedented for you."</p>
<p>"But are you time travelling?".</p>
<p>Whatever Homura was expecting, it wasn't that. "Yes," she lets out.</p>
<p>"Like in a loop?"</p>
<p>Homura is dumbfounded at the accuracy of Kyoko's revelation. "How did you figure <em>that</em> out?" she asks nervously. "All I was doing was moving around the room."</p>
<p>"Wait, I'm right?" Kyoko gasps. A grin appears on her face. "Then that means your wish was to be able to go back to fix mistakes or something like that, right?"</p>
<p>Homura's concern turns to confusion. Because while Kyoko's revelation is technically accurate...</p>
<p>"Because I mean, if you're going back in time to a few seconds ago to make it look like you're teleporting, then that'd have to be your wish."</p>
<p>Floored, Homura puts a palm to her forehead. Of course Kyoko somehow managed to just miss the truth. "Kyoko, I can stop time," Homura sighs.</p>
<p>"Oh. That makes much more sense."</p>
<p>A thoughtful expression appears on Kyoko's face. Homura almost looks exasperated by this point. What could it be this time?</p>
<p>"So did you accidentally break a clock or something and wish to go back and fix it?"</p>
<p>"No," Homura deadpans. "My wish wasn't to be able to fix asinine mistakes."</p>
<p>"Then how are you able to whip guns out of thin air?"</p>
<p>"<em>That</em> is what you're concerned about?" Homura deadpans.</p>
<p>"Mami can turn her ribbons into guns since, y'know, she's Mami, but that always takes her a few seconds. Meanwhile you can just throw around weapons left and right like you're a gun store bargain bin."</p>
<p>To alleviate Kyoko's confusion, Homura puts her hand into her shield and pulls out a box of strawberry-flavored pocky. Kyoko sees the pocky box and immediately leaps for it. Homura, not wanting to be tackled by the insatiable redhead, tosses it aside where it is snatched out of the air.</p>
<p>As Kyoko revels in her newly acquired snack, Homura answers, "My shield can store items."</p>
<p>Kyoko stops for a moment to consider that before a lecherous grin appears on her face. "Do you have any more pocky in there?" she prods.</p>
<p>"I'm not giving away my pocky supply to you."</p>
<p>Kyoko's grin drops as she pockets the box. She takes out the final stick from her own box of chocolate-flavored pocky and pops the end of it into her mouth. "So you can stop time, time travel, and store things," she recalls.</p>
<p>"Yes. Are you satisfied now?"</p>
<p>Kyoko grinds her teeth into the pocky stick, contemplating something. Before long, Homura realizes that Kyoko still hasn't responded.</p>
<p>"You still with me, Kyoko? Your last few brain cells haven't cannibalized each other, have they?"</p>
<p>"Say, Homerun-"</p>
<p>"Not my name."</p>
<p>"That shield of yours is kinda like a storage container, right?"</p>
<p>"Yes. I suppose it could be compared to one."</p>
<p>A thought in mind, Kyoko opens the strawberry pocky box and pulls out a stick to taste, holding the unfinished chocolate stick in her free hand. Homura watches, unknowing of the current ongoing experiment.</p>
<p>After finishing the strawberry pocky stick, Kyoko grins and pops the chocolate one back into her mouth.</p>
<p>"Would you like a napkin for your hand?" Homura asks.</p>
<p>Ignoring her question, Kyoko rushes up to Homura and grabs her by the shoulders. Homura winces, lamenting the inevitable chocolate stains she'll have to clean out of her shirt.</p>
<p>"For the record, I was not offering myself up as a napkin," she complains.</p>
<p>"Say Homerun, have you ever tried putting <em>people</em> in your shield?"</p>
<p>Homura blanks at that. Once again, this conversation has taken a turn she was expecting. "No," she says. "That's not an idea that has crossed my mind."</p>
<p>"Do you want to try putting me in it?" Kyoko asks, with a gleam in her eye.</p>
<p>Homura just stares for a moment before responding, "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try. I've put large objects into my shield before."</p>
<p>Kyoko's expression flashes dark for a second, analyzing any underlying intent behind Homura's statement. However, before she can come to a conclusion, Homura gestures for her to come closer and she does so.</p>
<p>As Homura presses her shield against Kyoko's hand, it begins to disappear into the material.</p>
<p>"Woah," Kyoko says, "It feels so weird. Like for a second it was cold metal, but now it feels like a cool breeze."</p>
<p>Homura watches her shield as Kyoko's arm goes elbow-deep into it.</p>
<p>"Are you sure about this?" she asks, wondering if consent will make up for anything going awry.</p>
<p>Kyoko ignores her, instead positioning her other arm to also start going in. "I think I'm going to try diving into it," she declares.</p>
<p>"I'm not sure diving is a good idea. After all, I store my guns in here."</p>
<p>"Psh. So long as you aren't storing nukes or whatever, I'll be fine," Kyoko says as she lines her head up with the shield.</p>
<p>Homura's eyes widen as she considers that. "Wait," she starts, but Kyoko's feet leave the ground and she dives into the shield before Homura can get out another word. Kyoko's body does a clean pass into the shield, its magic detecting and accommodating for her size.</p>
<p>In an instant, the room of two becomes a room of one, and Homura becomes unnerved.</p>
<p>"Did you just eat Kyoko Sakura?" a voice asks.</p>
<p>Homura turns to the voice and thinks to retrieve a gun from her shield but stops herself, worried about what will happen to Kyoko should she make an attempt to.</p>
<p>Realizing that the voice is still awaiting an answer, she finally responds, "Does it matter if I did?"</p>
<p>Kyubey, the source of the voice, blinks at Homura with its usual neutral expression. It pauses, calculating a response. It is a particularly long pause. Before long, Homura finds herself bored waiting for Kyubey. Its lengthy response times are usually what keeps Homura from conversing with it in the first place, second only to the whole harvesting teen girls as batteries scam it operates, which in all fairness should probably be more important than response time.</p>
<p>After what feels like an eternity, Kyubey finally says, "I'm not sure Mami Tomoe would appreciate knowing that you ate her former apprentice."</p>
<p>Homura blinks. "Over a minute of thinking and <em>that </em>is what you come up with?" she blurts out.</p>
<p>"In my defense, I've never had to deal with a magical girl eating other magical girls <em>before</em> they become witches."</p>
<p>Homura takes a moment to consider the implications of that, especially in what that means about her. Kyubey meanwhile stares at her shield. "Is she still alive?" it asks.</p>
<p>Homura also stares at her shield. Unsure of the answer herself, she reaches in with a hand. When her hand begins coming out, she realizes that she is pulling out a box of pocky. Confused, she pulls the pocky box out all the way, revealing a familiar hand attached to the box. With a gasp, she lets go of the box, both it and the hand retracting back into the shield.</p>
<p>Before Homura can think any further about her discovery, Kyoko's head pops out of the shield, her face showing a mix of confusion and concern.</p>
<p>"Say Homerun, did you rob an army or something?" Kyoko asks. "Because this place is loaded with weapons."</p>
<p>Kyubey and Homura stare at Kyoko's head with puzzled expressions. Well, Homura has a puzzled expression, anyway. Kyubey just blinks before greeting Kyoko, "Hello Kyoko Sakura."</p>
<p>Kyoko turns to look at Kyubey and returns the greeting, "Hey Kyubey."</p>
<p>It is then that she realizes, "Wait, Kyubey is still alive." Kyoko looks to Homura before asking, "Did we go back in time or something? Because I'm pretty sure I remember you killing him."</p>
<p>A thought occurs to Homura. A revelation that sobers her up to the events of the past few minutes. One that makes up for this entire shield-storage stupor, were it not for the <em>other</em> ongoing revelation.</p>
<p>"You're a time traveller?" Kyubey asks.</p>
<p>Pointedly ignoring him, Homura tells Kyoko, "Wait in there for a few minutes," before firmly shoving Kyoko's head back into the shield.</p>
<p>Kyubey stares at Homura in fascination. If he were able to properly emote, there would likely be a sense of smugness about him. "That explains why you are such an anomaly," he says. "You're not from this time, are you?"</p>
<p>Homura looks at Kyubey with her own smug expression, something she hasn't had the pleasure of giving in who knows how long. "It looks like I've finally won, Incubator," she claims, before turning her shield and-</p><hr/>
<p>Several weeks earlier, Homura wakes up with a start in her hospital bed.</p>
<p>After taking a moment to examine her surroundings and confirm that she <em>is</em> in the past, Homura jumps out of her bed and transforms. Putting a hand to her shield, she pulls Kyoko's head out. This time, Kyoko's arms also come out as she grabs the sides of the shield and pulls herself out, flopping painfully onto the tiled floor below. A few newly acquired boxes of pocky echo her fall.</p>
<p>After rubbing her head, Kyoko looks around. They're in a hospital room. Even more strangely, Homura is wearing a hospital gown. "Where are we?" she finally asks.</p>
<p>"The past."</p>
<p>"Huh." Getting onto her feet, Kyoko dusts herself off before picking up the boxes and stashing them in her jacket.</p>
<p>"Did you raid my supply?" Homura asks with a frown.</p>
<p>Ignoring her, Kyoko looks out the window and notices that it is morning, a stark contrast to the nighttime she and Homura just came from.</p>
<p>"I guess you're not yanking my chain then," Kyoko concludes. "We really are in the past."</p>
<p>She opens another pocky box and pulls out a green tea flavored stick, popping it into her mouth. "So now what?" she asks Homura.</p>
<p>"Isn't that obvious?" Homura responds. "I bring Madoka back with me and protect her until the end of time."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Since there are too many unknown variables, we're going to do a test run," Homura says, as she opens the door and flicks on the lights to her apartment. Kyoko follows her in and almost drops the mountain of groceries and fast food Homura made her carry.</p><p>"What happened to all of the pendulums and clockwork and shit you had?" she asks incredulously.</p><p>"Since we reset, my apartment no longer has those decorations. Unfortunately, to acquire new ones, I will need to go out tonight to visit a few <em>suppliers</em>," Homura sighs.</p><p>Unnerved by those implications (and distracted by her grumbling stomach), Kyoko chooses to put her focus into the food in her hands, plopping it down onto the weird, purple coffee table, which somehow seems to be the only constant in Homura's apartment; maybe it's attached to the floor or something?</p><p>As Kyoko begins organizing and arranging her (Homura's) haul of food, Homura arms herself with a dry erase marker and stands in front of a large whiteboard she pulled out her shield. Kyoko follows suit by arming herself with a cheeseburger and side of fries as she takes a seat onto what has become her favorite couch.</p><p>"Let's start off with some ground rules," Homura says as she uncaps her marker and begins drawing on the whiteboard. Kyoko considers questioning where exactly the whiteboard came from (and also why she chose to bring that instead of one of her pendulums), but after joining this time loop business at the promise of food and housing, she determines that interrupting now over such a minor detail doesn't seem to be in her best interests. Also her mouth is currently full of fries, so there's that too.</p><p>"First off, you need to stay under the radar," Homura says, as she begins drawing rough squiggles of the various Mitakihara girls. "I'm sure Mami Tomoe will be all too willing to let you hunt for grief seeds in Mitakihara so long as you don't paint a target on your back."</p><p>Kyoko concedes the point. Mami is the pushover type, especially when it comes to potentially having friends.</p><p>"So that means no hunting Kyubey for sport, no curb stomping Sayaka Miki, and no making fun of Mami Tomoe's stupid hair."</p><p>Once again, Kyoko concedes the point, but she can't help but raise an eyebrow at that last one, especially when looking at the unflattering hair Squiggle Mami receives. It's not exactly inaccurate but... Then a thought occurs to her.</p><p>"What about me?" Kyoko asks.</p><p>"What <em>about</em> you?"</p><p>"I'm sure you could take care of your past self with a quick bullet to the head, but if I run across me, something tells me that one bullet's not going to be enough to take her down."</p><p><em>If only she knew</em>, Homura thinks. Then again, she does bring up a valid point. Homura considers this as she colors in Squiggle Kyoko's ponytail. While she has never run across a past iteration of herself because of the way her time travelling works, the chance of Kyoko bumping into her past self at the arcade or while digging through a dumpster for food or whatever she does for fun is not exactly zero, considering she should not have been able to be brought back in the first place.</p><p>"If you are to run into your past self, what are the chances she would just accept your existence and move on with her life?" Homura asks.</p><p>Kyoko thinks for a moment, having to consider what she would do in her past self's place. "I think," she determines, "that she'd probably try to get rid of me to validate her existence."</p><p>As Homura finishes drawing Squiggle Sayaka's tears as she watches Squiggle Kyosuke and Squiggle Hitomi run off into the sunset together, she can't help but be impressed at Kyoko's level of introspection. "What if you offer her food?" she suggests.</p><p>This line of questioning sends Kyoko into a self-reflective frenzy, her having to consider all of her life up to this moment and whether or not she'd be willing to throw her entire sense of self out the window for a free snack. As she reaches her answer, a frown visibly appears on her face.</p><p>"Yeah, she'd probably ignore the identity crisis if I give her a few boxes of pocky," Kyoko deduces.</p><p>"Great," Homura says, but Kyoko can't help but disagree internally. "Then that will be our course of action." After finishing her final drawing, Homura recaps her marker while thinking. After a moment, she places the marker aside and heads to the door.</p><p>"Unless there's anything else, we can conclude for now. I need to go run my errands while the risk of being caught is low."</p><p>"Not to be that person, but don't you have school tomorrow?" Kyoko asks, silently considering the possibility that she may be quite literally working with a terrorist.</p><p>"Don't worry, <em>Mom</em>. I'll be back before midnight," Homura snarks as she turns back to admire her depiction of Squiggle Madoka and Squiggle Homura holding hands. An inkling of a smile appears on her face before she turns back and heads out the door into the night.</p>
<hr/><p>The next morning sees Homura making her introduction at school for the umpteenth time. She goes through the usual motions, giving little to no background information about herself and doing all in her power to speed things up. Of course, she also takes any opportunity she can to glance at Madoka, who always seems to falter under her gaze. And when it comes time for her to fake having heart palpitations and be led to the nurse's office by Madoka, she feels more confident than usual, which only exacerbates Madoka's inherent discomfort with her.</p><p>However, she realizes that she must have slipped up somewhere when Madoka stops to face her in the middle of the hallway and asks, "Homura, have we met before?"</p><p>After not receiving an answer (due to Homura going into a brief shock), Madoka tries to backpedal, suggesting that she must've been thinking of someone else. But before she can fully sweep her question under the rug (to later be the source of this evening's bout of self-deprecation), Homura decides to try something new in grabbing her by the shoulders and cutting to the point.</p><p>"I'm not from this time."</p><p>Of course, when thinking over the fact that Homura was in her dream, Madoka did not consider the possibility of larger science fiction shenanigans being the cause of her subconscious' memories. In fact, such an explanation could only go over her head as she is now, which it does when the only response Madoka can come up with is a whispered "Cool."</p><p>Although initially discouraged by Madoka's non-response, Homura presses forward in this spontaneous route, still clinging to that voice of hope in her mind that says this will work. "I've travelled back in time to save you from making the mistake of becoming a magical girl, as there is an underlying truth behind it that has taken your life in every timeline."</p><p>Madoka, suddenly beginning to regret leading the weird transfer student to the nurse's office, can only nod awkwardly as she tries to think up a way out of this conversation, silently cursing the dream that led her here.</p><p>After a moment of consideration, Homura, not being stupid, begrudgingly accepts that Madoka is not ready for such a reveal and decides to give up on this route. However, given that Madoka seems to be on the verge of crying (something not unprecedented for her), she realizes that her backpedaling will have to have a certain grace to it. But how exactly can she go about "dropping the act" so easily-</p><p>Wait.</p><p>"How was that?!" Homura suddenly asks in an uncharacteristically excited tone. Madoka flinches from the sudden burst of energy, but Homura continues, "I'm thinking of joining the school's drama club and wanted to practice with someone, but it's hard to in front of so many people. And you just look so approachable, you know?"</p><p>Madoka, taking the bait, pauses for a moment before gasping in amazement, "Woah! You were acting? You really had me fooled."</p><p>"Thank you. I've been practicing that one so many times that it's pretty much burned into me," Homura says with a slight twitch in her fake smile.</p><p>"Huh. That makes sense considering how dramatic it was. Even more, it's pretty silly conceptually. Magical girls? Time travel? Underlying truths? That sounds a bit too inspired for you to have come up with it on the spot," Madoka accuses with a smirk. Admittedly, Homura <em>did</em> come up with that on the spot, but the time for truth had already taken its course. Also, she takes note of the fact that Madoka has avoided bringing up her supposed memory of her and files it into the back of her mind.</p><p>Running out of ideas, Homura quickly chooses to use Sayaka as her muse as she scratches the back of her head awkwardly and says, "Yeah, I guess that's some of my inner dork coming out. I hope you didn't mind too much. I know no one likes the weird, eccentric, overbearing, emotional train wreck type. Actually, you and everyone else would be pretty justified in hating me, so why don't we just go back to-"</p><p>"No, you're fine!" Madoka quickly interrupts, not wanting Homura to self-flagellate. "I just think next time you shouldn't try to cut class for it."</p><p>Naturally, Homura takes a page from Mami's book next and seems to shell up out of guilt. "You're right," she mutters. "I am an awful and impulsive person. And lonely too. And I really don't know how to ask people for help, even though everything I do can be considered a cry for it."</p><p>Homura looks up, wondering if she went a bit too far. And for a second, it seems as though she did when Madoka hesitates upon meeting eyes with her. Then after a moment of distracted staring, Homura notices Madoka's beautiful pink eyes flash with excitement as she puts her hands together and says, "Oh, I know! Why don't you join me and my friends for lunch today? You can practice your acting with us."</p><p>Homura takes a moment to genuinely consider this before putting on her biggest Kyoko grin (or her attempt at one anyway, acting is hard) and exclaiming, "Sounds better than eating by the dumpster!" Which is probably the best fake enthusiasm she has ever shown.</p>
<hr/><p>That day's lunch break meetup provides Homura an in into Madoka's group before the cogs of fate begin to turn, which is something unprecedented for her. Not that it makes much of a difference. Because while eating lunch on the roof with Madoka, Hitomi, and a surprisingly amicable Sayaka (who even more surprisingly is a better actor than her) is fun, ultimately Homura still ends up divided from the group when Kyubey runs crying to Madoka after her daily attempt to place a few well-deserved bullets into its skull.</p><p>Madoka is uncharacteristically appalled by this seeming betrayal, or at least in comparison to previous timelines, as she immediately runs away from Homura with Kyubey in tow, probably looking for the nearest veterinarian. Admittedly Homura does not take this well, as when Sayaka runs onto the scene and only comes across her in full "cosplay" (which she understandably teases her about), Homura just points in Madoka's direction and defeatedly mutters, "She went that way."</p><p>After Mami Tomoe saves Madoka and Sayaka from the squad of familiars, Homura chooses to reveal herself to the newly formed trio. Mami immediately senses and glares at her for attempting to put down the incubator. Madoka is somewhere between dismay for Homura's actions and concern for the revelation that Homura might not have been acting this morning. Sayaka, meanwhile, is just all-around confused, and Homura finds it unnerving that <em>she</em> has the best opinion of her right now, Kyubey's lack of emotion notwithstanding.</p><p>Homura keeps the back-and-forth with Mami light, not choosing to verbally attack her character yet, before making her exit and heading home for the night. Normally, she would at least go hunting for another witch, but there is a certain aching feeling inside of her that sways her from that. She hopes that it isn't the onset of some sort of disease caused by her new Kyoko-inspired eating habits.</p><p>As she makes her way into her apartment, she notices that Kyoko isn't present and assumes that the redhead got nostalgic for home, deciding to spend the night beside a dumpster. Going over her notes, Homura notices that many of her interactions with the others have deviated from previous timelines. While Mami is still Mami, Sayaka seems to enjoy her presence and Madoka, before the whole shooting Kyubey thing, seemed to be excited when talking to her, as opposed to the usual discomfort and fear she would show. Admittedly, Madoka's anger with her is also new, but thinking about it hurts, so Homura decides to just jot these changes down in her journal and call it a night.</p>
<hr/><p>The next morning, Homura makes her usual trip to the roof to explain herself, not considering that her lunchtime meeting from the previous day could have an effect on this one. Which is exactly what happens.</p><p>Madoka nearly drops her bento and Sayaka actually chokes on noodles when they see Homura walking towards them, carrying her own lunch. Homura's thoughts stray to the absence of Hitomi until Madoka slams her food beside her and jumps to her feet, lashing out at Homura, "What do you think you're doing here?"</p><p>Extremely caught off guard by Madoka's outburst, Homura attempts (and fails) to coolly explain herself, "I just... came to apologize to you for my actions yesterday."</p><p>"Wait. So you <em>are</em> a magical girl? I just assumed you were one of those weird cosplayers or something," Sayaka asks with a look of genuine confusion. Did someone keep her out of the exposition loop or something?</p><p>Madoka gives Sayaka her own look, which Homura could only assume was terrifying given that she couldn't see it, that immediately shuts Sayaka up. Homura doesn't envy her when she sees her look to the ground and quietly slurp down her noodles in an uncommon showing of fear.</p><p>"You shouldn't be apologizing to me," Madoka says, sending her death glare Homura's way. "You should be apologizing to Kyubey."</p><p>"I can't do that though," Homura responds, doing her best to fight against the growing pain in her stomach.</p><p>"Why not?"</p><p>"Because it doesn't have feelings."</p><p>"Homura!" Madoka shouts, causing Homura to uncharacteristically flinch.</p><p>"If I did have feelings, I would be very offended right now," Kyubey states. Just hearing the incubator's voice is enough to distract Homura from her stomach. Her attention is instead shifted onto the thought of silencing that voice with another bullet, but she stops herself, as she realizes that would be the point of no return for this Madoka. Also, they're still in school, and the sound of a gunshot would only further complicate things.</p><p>Homura finally gives in and turns to face the incubator. "I'm sorry for shooting you, Kyubey," she forces out, before adding, "Were you in my shoes, I'm sure you would have a very similar goal of instilling despair at all means necessary."</p><p>Madoka does not particularly believe that apology, but Kyubey accepts it without a hitch, "Very well. Your apology has overcome entropy, Homura Akemi." Homura's fingers twitch at that as she fantasizes the feeling of pulling the trigger to a gun aimed at this "comedian."</p><p>The frown on Homura's face remains visible as she takes a seat next to Sayaka, away from Madoka, who still seems to be upset with her. Their lunch initially goes by almost silently, Sayaka attempting to make small talk as the de facto mediator of the three. However, Madoka seems to be in too much of a sour mood to talk, and Homura just chooses to ignore Sayaka (not unprecedented for her), instead considering what her next move will be. Ultimately Sayaka settles on a conversation with Kyubey about magical girls, which both Homura and Madoka tune out.</p><p>Ultimately, Homura comes to the conclusion that meal time with Madoka has run its course. As such, upon finishing her meal, Homura gets up and begins walking off without a word, well before the end of the lunch period. This halts Sayaka and Kyubey's conversation and gets the attention of Madoka, whose anger seems to have been subsided in favor for an especially potent feeling of guilt.</p><p>Before Homura can exit the roof, Madoka gets up from her seat and calls out, "Homura, wait!"</p><p>Stopping in her tracks, Homura turns to Madoka and immediately notices the tears in her eyes. Her expression softens for a moment before she turns back on her cold facade and sharply asks, "What?"</p><p>Flinching for a moment (the poor girl probably undergoing a surge of emotions), Madoka tries her best to stammer out, "Yesterday... when you were talking about magical girls... and time travel and underlying truths... you weren't just acting... were you...?"</p><p>Alarmed by this line of questioning, Homura immediately glances at Kyubey, who seems to be analyzing her with its beady eyes. Fighting the urge to put a bullet between them, she looks back to Madoka and realizes that she has to keep lying out of self preservation.</p><p>"You're right," she begins. "I wasn't acting."</p><p>Madoka's face begins to resonate with shock until the very next thing Homura says.</p><p>"I was lying."</p><p>Confused, Madoka is unable to put the rushing thoughts in her head to words. Fortunately, Sayaka shares a similar confusion and unintentionally translates, "Isn't that the same thing though?"</p><p>Homura, now having the golden opportunity to monologue, runs her hand through her hair and proceeds to hit her usual notes. "Acting requires a level of sincerity whereas lying is complete insincerity. And there was no sincerity to be had in what I told you. The truth of the matter is that I have no intention of becoming your friend, Madoka Kaname. My goals begin and end with keeping you from becoming a magical girl."</p><p>Madoka goes into a silenced shock as Sayaka chooses now to show her usual colors, getting up from her seat (spilling her noodles in the process) and shouting, "And what exactly do you mean by that? Are you trying to kill Kyubey so that we can't make a contract with him?"</p><p>"Don't be mistaken, Sayaka Miki," Homura says. "I have no intention of stopping <em>you</em> from making a contract."</p><p>"Good," Sayaka says as she crosses her arms, feeling as though she's won a battle. She hasn't though, and everyone around her is aware of that.</p><p>"She's dodging the question, Sayaka," Kyubey says with what Homura can only imagine is a hint of annoyance. Madoka meanwhile looks as though an arrow has been shot through her heart. Her breath hitches as the tears begin pouring. For a moment, Homura can't help but wonder if maybe she is handling this situation poorly, but she shakes that thought away as she delivers the killing blow to the formerly budding friendship.</p><p>"Have I made myself clear, Madoka Kaname?" she asks. "Don't make a contract. <em>Or else.</em>"</p><p>Madoka goes catatonic. Sayaka immediately lashes out at Homura, who ignores her and walks off. Kyubey continues staring, trying to piece together the puzzle that is Homura Akemi. And Mami watches the exchange from a distance, wishing she would have joined in on the meal before things got so tense.</p><p>And as Homura crosses back into the classroom, she has but one thought in mind: <em>The timeline is back on track.</em></p>
<hr/><p>Homura opts out of following the trio that evening, assuming that Mami can handle herself against a witch like Gertrud. Instead, she heads home where she hears Kyoko digging through the kitchen pantry.</p><p>"I'm back," she calls out, which startles Kyoko for some reason. Instead of a greeting, the only response she receives is the sound of shuffling followed by the pantry door slamming shut.</p><p>Feeling curious as well as peckish, Homura joins Kyoko in the kitchen to grab herself something to eat. Though, given her concerns yesterday, she avoids gorging herself on junk food and instead asks Kyoko, "Do we have any apples left?"</p><p>Kyoko quietly looks at Homura, unsure of what to say. With a slight glare, Homura says, "Look, I don't care if you ate them all. Just make sure to save me one in the future."</p><p>"There should still be a few left," Kyoko suddenly blurts out. Homura raises her eyebrow at the shaky tone of voice, but shrugs it off for now.</p><p>"Can I get through then?"</p><p>Realizing she is in the way, Kyoko darts off to the side to let Homura pass through to the refrigerator, her back now hugging the pantry door, almost as if she is holding it like a lifeline.</p><p>After grabbing an apple, Homura closes the refrigerator door and finally <em>looks</em> at Kyoko. It's then that she sees something is up and narrows her eyes.</p><p>"Kyoko, what did you do?"</p><p>Kyoko falters for a moment under Homura's gaze. "I have no clue what you're talking about," she denies.</p><p>Homura stares at her for a few more seconds before turning away to take a bite of her apple, and Kyoko relaxes for that brief moment.</p><p>Homura then transforms and presses a gun to the side of Kyoko's head before she can even blink.</p><p>"What. Did. You. Do." Homura hisses, but Kyoko goes incoherent, clearly unprepared to have a gun aimed at her.</p><p>"Why do you have a gun?!" she manages to get out, which causes Homura to widen her eyes in surprise.</p><p>"You're not my Kyoko, are you?" she asks.</p><p>The pantry door behind Kyoko then bursts open as the <em>real</em> Kyoko shouts, "Surprise!" Homura and the other Kyoko are knocked to the ground, Homura's gun falling out of her hand.</p><p>"Whoops, didn't realize you two were right in front of the door," Kyoko says, with a sheepish expression. As soon as she comes to, the other Kyoko grabs Homura's gun, gets to her feet, and points it at Homura.</p><p>"Yo, Past Me what do you think you're doing?" Kyoko asks.</p><p>"You didn't tell me that your new sugar daddy is a gun wielding maniac!" Past Kyoko screams.</p><p>"To be fair, we were able to handle Mami."</p><p>Homura, ignoring Past Kyoko and the gun pointed at her, gets to her feet and glares at <em>her</em> Kyoko.</p><p>"So Homerun, you're not going to believe this," Kyoko says "But it turns out that Past Me is pretty cool."</p><p>Homura pointedly looks at Past Kyoko, whose hands are beginning to tremble out of fear. "You're right," Homura says before disappearing and reappearing behind her potential assailant. "I don't believe that." She delivers a chop to the back of Past Kyoko's neck, knocking her out in an instant and her body crumpling to the floor.</p><p>"What'd you do that for?" Kyoko asks. "We were just trying to see how long it'd take you to figure out she wasn't me."</p><p>Homura picks up her gun from the ground and places it back into her shield. She then sees the apple she had safely placed on the counter and goes back to eating it. Both her and Kyoko stare at the unconscious Past Kyoko laying on the ground.</p><p>Finally, Kyoko decides to break the silence by asking, "So can we keep her?"</p><p>"No," Homura answers a bit too quickly.</p><p>Kyoko considers arguing with her, but admittedly after that short display, she decides that is not a hill she is willing to die on.</p><p>"Then can we at least go and scare Mami with her?"</p>
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